


Planning for the Future

by Llama1412



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-21
Updated: 2010-11-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:55:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23484898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Llama1412/pseuds/Llama1412
Summary: Arthur had a plan. A cunning plan.
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Kudos: 10





	Planning for the Future

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on livejournal in 2010. Posted unedited.

Arthur had a plan. It was a very cunning, well-thought out plan, if he did say so himself. Well, cunning and well-thought out in the sense that he'd spent a lot of time thinking about it and sort of had a set-by-step plan. It might even work, too. He hoped, anyway.

See, the plan was this: Arthur didn't like women. For the sake of appearances, he could pretend he did, but enough to produce an heir? Not likely. He doubted he could get it up if he tried, no matter how pretty his eventual bride might be. He couldn't help it. He just didn't like women. But, he needed an heir and he couldn't go about getting one through the usual methods.

So, he would find someone to leave his throne to. Somehow. He was thinking he might pretend that someone was his illegitimate son. After all, actual bloodlines didn't matter as long as the people thought he was a blood heir.

Or he could leave everything to Morgana. He was pretty sure she'd be a spectacular ruler, given the chance. Not that he'd ever tell her that. The Court wouldn't accept her, unfortunately. But she'd have a son one day, he hoped. He could make that kid his heir. If he planted a few rumors in the right places, he could ensure that the Court believed that Morgana was Uther's child. That way, her son would legitimately be in line for the throne with that absence of a new heir by Arthur.

That would be Arthur's preferred method. It seemed the least dishonest path. He would still be lying to his people, but then, that seemed to be the king's job if his father was any indication. And Morgana deserved a chance for power, strange as that sounded. She understood people in a way neither Arthur nor Uther ever could and she knew politics just as well as any of them. She was passionate and she cared, and that was what the people of Camelot needed. So that was what Arthur would try to give them.

His duty was to his people. He owed them his protection, his allegiance, and most of all, his concern. He could not give them a blood heir, but he would do what he could to give them what they needed.

That was his plan.

Unfortunately, his own happiness did not come into the equation. He needed a queen. The Court would demand that he marry and there was no way, politically, that he could turn them down.

But he couldn't love his queen. He would try, of course, but he doubted it would do any good. He couldn't love a woman, not in the way one would ask. His queen would probably take on a consort and he would not object, so long as she was discreet. But he couldn't do that. He could not stand pledging his heart to someone only to cheat on them when duty called. Even if he wouldn't sleep with his queen, it just seemed wrong to have anyone else at his side than that whom he professed to love. So, instead, he wouldn't give his heart to anyone. That way, he wouldn't hurt anyone but himself. And himself he could live with. After all, the stresses of being king would likely make him forget any feelings for anyone fast enough. It had made his father forget the grief he felt for his mother, so there's no reason it wouldn't make him forget that he might feel something more than proper for his manservant. Not that he did, of course. It was only a 'might'. And, as he'd said, being king would make him forget. In the mean time, he would ignore any such possibility of feelings and encourage Merlin to find happiness elsewhere. And if it hurt, well, Arthur would ignore it. As long as Merlin stayed with him, advised him in his own unique way and kept Arthur from making a fool of himself, then Arthur would be fine.

It would be an ideal reign. He would have Merlin at his side, he would have Morgana at his back, ready to take over when the time came. He would have his knights fighting faithfully for him, and he'd have a wife to stand by him and appease the Court. He had plans for what he'd do as king. And yeah, maybe he would be alone in his bed on long nights, but...well, he wouldn't be alone on the political field where it mattered. He would cope. His people would be happy, his friends would be happy, and that was what was important.


End file.
